Last week at One Whitehall Place, the industry witnessed the end of an era. Norwich Union director of intermediary business Ken Wallace was given a send-off for his retirement.
Brokers were asked to dip in to their IBA accounts, sorry I mean pockets, to buy him an appropriate present. A sharp intake of breath was heard across the regal room when David Slade of Perkins Slade announced that £12,000 had been paid.
With a smile on his face, he said: "The only problem for me was that we had to spend so much on you."
The plan had been to purchase a painting but, after Mrs Wallace complained that there was no room for it, Ken was presented with a Rolex watch.
Backchat's favourite moment came from NU chief Patrick Snowball's speech when he told the audience that his nickname for Wallace was RLS.
"It came from when Ken and I went to Scandinavia to buy a business. The chief executive of the business had brought along his own Ken to the meeting. He said to me: 'So you have your own RLS?' I asked: 'what's that?'
"The chief executive replied, 'Resilient Little S***'."
As Snowball observed every company has one and needs one.
